Viruses
and malware are a big issue for any computer user be the user a
civilian trying to surf the net at home or a government installation
with national security secrets tucked away inside its networks. One
of the most common ways to move data from computer to computer and
take data on the road today is the common flash drive.

The
U.S. military has taken a harsh stance on USB drives and thumb drives
after a virus infection stemming from a thumb drive infected networks
in November of 2008 prompting a complete
ban on thumb drives in any DoD computer. The ban not only
included thumb drives, but also banned users from connecting PMPs,
digital cameras and other devices with internal flash storage to
computer networks.

Defense
News reports
that the Pentagon is now ready
to remove the ban on thumb drives, but the lift of the ban
is contingent on following strict rules and is for limited use of
thumb drives. The DoD will only allow "specific thumb drives"
and accompanying kits using hardware and software to remove and
viruses or malware from the drives to be used. Vice Admiral Carl
Mauney, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command said that right
now, the military has only a few dozen kits and all were built in a
laboratory.

One official referred to the kits as "malware
scrubbing kiosks." The drives are heading to Afghanistan and are
expected to be useful at combat command centers and analysis centers
according to Mauney. Defense News offers a few of the rules for using
the thumb drives from a statement that was issued on February 19. The
rules are as follows:

"Only
properly inventoried, government-procured and owned devices will be
allowed for use in DoD's information systems."

"Personally-owned
devices are prohibited on all DoD networks and computers."

The
new government-owned and approved drives cannot be used in personal
or other non-government computers or networks without specific
approval.

Thumb drives and other flash media are to be used
"only as a last resort" for transferring information from
computer to computer or from place to place. When other network
resources are available, they should be used instead.

The
rules also stipulate that to ensure procedures are being followed
"randomly selected users and drives will be subject to periodic
auditing," according to the Strategic Command. Individual
commanders will be able to decide if the use of the flash drives will
be allowed in their organizations. Some commanders developed methods
of moving data without needing thumb drives during the ban and may
elect to continue using the same methods.

Few details were
offered on the thumb drives used in the kits. One official stated
that the thumb drives encrypted all data that was on the drive and
the drives require a password or fingerprint to access the data. The
drives also have anti-virus protection and other security features to
prevent certain types of data from being copied or stored on the
drive. Security may also prevent users form storing unapproved data
on the drives.

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